Your Stories

Since birth, my daughter was on formula and filling her nappy up to 14 times a day. She was also feeding almost every hour and completely finishing the bottle every time. I tried switching formulas and she improved to only needing a nappy change six times a day. But she still had a nappy rash that was as if she had sat in a bath of acid, which, as you can imagine, made her scream.

When she was 18 months old, she was once again up past 11pm one night, screaming in agony with her bleeding bottom. In desperation I began investigating nappy rash online – milk seemed to come up a lot in my search, as did lactose. Soon I found the information I needed on the Lactofree site and headed straight to the doctor for an emergency appointment – and was told off for bringing her in for such a “minor thing”! I just wanted to clear it with them before I put her on a lactose free diet. But all I managed to get out of them was an application for an appointment with a paediatrician and the comment that “children with lactose intolerance will become dehydrated and start to lose loads of weight” – which wasn’t the case with my Ella.

Still, I went straight to Tesco and bought your milk, cheese and yogurt. I gave her two 9oz bottles the next day as a test – no poo! I gave her a yogurt – no poo! In fact, she did not go until the next morning after breakfast and this time there was a great improvement in her nappy! I have now had her on a lactose free diet for over a week and she is a different child, no ‘curry paste’ poo and no nappy rash!

My doctor’s surgery has since apologised to me and officially diagnosed Ella as lactose intolerant. This made me wonder how many other babies are misdiagnosed as they don’t present with the ‘right’ symptoms. My advice to other mums is to be aware that sometimes a nappy rash is more than just nappy rash. If your child is not teething or doesn’t have a bug, then this could be a sign that he or she is allergic to something that they have ingested – like lactose.

All that is left to say is thank you Lactofree! Your website has helped to make a beautiful little girl better!